Countless people long to make a difference this holiday season, yet they don’t realize that opportunities to make a difference are everywhere. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Organize a blank drive
It is cold outside, but imagine how thousands of homeless people may feel without a home of their own, or even a blanket to keep them from the cold. Organize a blank drive for your local homeless, and ask around for donations!
Practice random acts of kindness
I’ll never forget the time when I went to pay for my Dr. Pepper, but the server resisted, saying my bill was paid by an anonymous(匿名的) guest. It’s this random act of kindness that restores my faith in humanity. Bless someone by paying for their drink at Starbucks, or praising them! If you live somewhere where it snows, shovel your neighbor’s snow out of their driveway for them! Whether it is as simple as praise or as complex as paying the bill, you’ll never know how far your impact will reach.
Say thank you
ust a simple thank-you can_________, especially if they feel like their work is never noticed. Cultivate（培养）a smile on their face by being sincere and grateful for all that they do.
Use your talents to help the community
The best way to show your appreciation for people is by using the talents and skills you have to bless others. For me, I love to coordinate（协调）events and write , and so my way of reaching out to the community is through writing articles and creating awareness about problems we face today. If you can bake, make some delicious cookies for people to enjoy! If you can knit, put your talents to use by making clothes for children in foster care. Any talent can be used to help the community in meaningful ways.
Wish you a happy, healthy and helpful holiday season.
1.If you join a blank drive, you can _________.
A. collect donations for the homeless people
B. bring a blanket to go on a trip
C. buy a home for homeless people
D. keep yourself from the cold
2.How did the author restore his faith in humanity?
A. He helps others
B. He often blessed others
C. He got help from others
D. He got praised by others
3.The underlined phrase “make somebody’s day” is to_________.
A. make someone feel grateful all day
B. do something unnoticed by people
C. make someone feel good all day
D. help someone to solve problems
4.What is the author’s talent?
A. Sewing
B. Writing
C. Baking
D. Knitting
5.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
A. Make a Difference in Your Holiday Season
B. Make the Best of Talent
C. Enjoy Your Holiday Season
D. Help Others in Need
Parking lots again came up for discussion in Shanghai. Another 220, 000 private cars will hit the roads this year, and the need to buy a car is still very high among people. More than 270,000 cars have no designated(指定)parking areas at night. In a middle school in Changing District, trees were cut in a green area to make way for car parking. The school had not considered car parking when it was being built,
A private car is used about an hour daily for driving and stays parked for 23 hours. Many private cars are used even less. Car-sharing offers users all kinds of cars. The cars are parked in car-sharing stations, lying throughout the city. Customers of car-sharing can book(预定)a car at any time ( day or night) by telephone or on the Internet. The customer then picks the booked car up at the set time. After finishing his/her business, they return the car to the same place where they picked it up. Maybe, this is one way to solve the car parking problem.
On the other hand, the idea of Park & Ride has been suggested. This means that underground train and city train should be developed quickly. You can leave your cars in car parks nearby subway and bus stations and then you can ride public transports to go to the city centre within minutes—great in wet weather or when you're carrying heavy bags. Park & Ride services can save you a little more time to do something you enjoy: catch up on e-mails, chat with friends, read the paper or simply relax, and prepare for the day ahead. Then the city will cut down the number of parking lots in the city centre.
1.Why does the writer mention what the middle school did in Paragraph 1?
A. To say car parking has been a problem for along time.
B. To show the car parking problem is becoming more serious.
C. To warm the middle school didn't care about environment.
D. To tell people to learn from the school for more parking areas.
2.How does the writer like the car-sharing service?
A. Expensive. B. OK.
C. Not possible. D. Not convenient.
3.According to the text, private cars .
A. are not useful at all
B. are not used very often
C. are responsible for the city train development
D. help drivers reach the city centre more quickly
4.According to the idea of Park & Ride, we can infer(推断)the city will have to .
A. build more parking lots near subway and bus stops
B. offer more cars to the customers in the city centre
C. encourage people not to drive cars to the city
D. ask people not to buy more cars
Today there are many fires than in the past. Over 100,000 wildfires burn each year in America. Russia has 20,000 to 35,000 wildfires every year. Australia has on average 60,000 each year. These fires destroy（损害）huge areas of forests and burn hundreds of homes.
Many experts believe there are several reasons for this sudden increase in fires. The first reason is climate（气候）change. Recent weather has been warmer and drier. This leads to dangerous fire conditions. When lightening strikes（发生雷电），dry grass easily catches fire. Hot winds add to the problem. The wind spreads a fire quickly. In 2010, Russia had the hottest and driest summer in a century. In just one month, 500 fires destroyed over 2,000 homes. Some people lost their lives.
Traditional fire-fighting practices are another reason for the increase in fires. In America, firefighters used to quickly put out every fire. They didn’t allow the grass and trees to burn. As a result, today many forests have thicker vegetation（植被）.Thicker vegetation means more fuel（燃料）for fires. Also, without fires from time to time, forests become overcrowded and unhealthy. Some trees are dead. The dead wood then easily catches fire. So surprisingly, America has many more fires today partly because of its past fire-fighting practices.
Scientists now understand that a fire can be a natural part of a healthy forest. As a result, countries like Australia allow more fires to burn naturally. Sometimes, fire fighters even start fires to get rid of（去除）dead wood. Of course, they carefully control the fires. The fire thins out old trees. This allows sunlight to reach the ground. As a result, fires help new trees to grow. Therefore, if a fire is not a serious threat（威胁）to people, firefighters may let it burn naturally.
1.Why did Russia have so many fires in one month in 2010?
A. Because lightening spread the fire.
B. Because there was much fuel for fires.
C. Because there were not enough firefighters.
D. Because it was unusually hot, dry and windy.
2.What happens because of the traditional fire-fighting practices in the USA?
A. There are fewer wildfires.
B. Trees and grass become thicker.
C. The weather becomes warmer and drier.
D. Sunlight reaches the ground to help forests.
3.What is the main idea of Paragraph 4?
A. Fires are serious threats to human beings.
B. Australian firefighters don’t put out fires.
C. Fires can play an important role I forests.
D. It’s difficult for firefighters to control the fires.
4.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Not all the fires in the forests must be put out.
B. People’s carelessness leads to dangerous fires.
C. Australia allows all the fires to burn naturally.
D. There are more fires in Russia than in the USA.
When I was nine years old, I wrote my first poem. My mother read the little poem and cried. “Buddy, it’s a beautiful, beautiful poem!” My mother poured out her praise.
“What time will Father be home?” I asked. I could hardly wait to show him my poem. My father had begun his movie career as a writer. He would be able to appreciate（欣赏）my poem even more than my mother. I confidently put the poem right on my father’s plate on the dining table.
My mother said he would be home around 7. But My father got home an hour later than expected. He sat down at the table and noticed his plate. “What is this?” I heard him say.
“Ben, Buddy has written his first poem. And it’s beautiful, so amazing!” Mother said.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to decide that for myself,” Father said.
I kept my face lowered to my plate. It was only 10 lines long. But it seemed to take hours. “I think it’s bad,” my father said. I couldn’t look up. My eyes were getting wet.
“Ben, sometimes I don’t understand you,” my mother was saying. “This is just a little boy. He needs encouragement.”
“I don’t know why,”______________“Isn’t there enough bad poetry(诗歌) in the world already? No law says Buddy has to become a poet.”
I ran from the dining room, threw myself on the bed and cried.
A few months later, I read that first poem. It was a bad poem. I worked up the courage to show him a short story. My father thought it was not good but hopeful. I was learning to rewrite.
As I worked my way into other books and plays and films, I realized how lucky I was to have a mother who said, “Buddy, it’s wonderful!” and a father who shook his head “I think it’s bad.” Both are love that forces me to improve. In fact, all of us in life need both loving force.
1.What did the mother think of the Buddy’s poem?
A. She was so moved that she cried.
B. She thought the poem was well written.
C. She considered Buddy had no talent for poetry.
D. She believed Buddy needed advice from his father.
2.The underlined sentence “My father held his ground” may means ________.
A. My father began to explain his reasons
B. My father got so angry that he stood up
C. My father refused to change his thoughts
D. My father threw my poem on the ground
3.From the passage, we can infer that Father is ________.
A. loving and strict B. careful and strict
C. careful and rude D. careless and strict
4.Which of the following is right?
A. A few months later, the writer stopped writing.
B. After years the writer hated his father very much.
C. That day Father didn’t come home until a quarter past eight.
D. The writer was confident that Father would praise his poem.
A vegetarian diet is often praised for its health benefits. Vegetarians usually have lower levels of heart disease, and studies have also shown that they have a lower risk of diabetes(糖尿病)than people who eat meat. However, most people don't realize that a vegetarian diet produces less pollution to the earth.
Researchers from the Union of Concerned Scientists in the US recently studied how people affect the environment. The study showed that eating meat is one of the main ways that humans can change the environment, second only to the use of motor vehicle.
Then, how can eating meat have a negative effect on the environment? For a start, all farm animals such as cows, pigs, and sheep give off methane gas(沼气)by breathing. One cow can produce up to 60 liters of methane each day. Methane gas is the second most common greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. Many environmental experts now believe that it is more responsible for global warming than carbon dioxide. It is estimated that 25% of all methane released into the air comes from farm animals.
Another way that meat production affects the environment is through the use of water and land. 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of beef while only 20 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of wheat. One acre of farmland used for crop production can produce 40,000 pounds of potatoes, 30,000 pounds of carrots, or 50,000 pounds of tomatoes, however, one acre of farmland used for raising cows can produce just 250 pounds of beef.
Many people now see the benefits of a vegetarian diet, not just for health reasons, but also because it plays an important role in protecting the environment. However, some nutritionists advise against switching to a totally strict vegetarian, or vegan diet. They believe a vegan diet, which excludes(拒绝) all products from animal sources, such as cheese, eggs, and milk, can be short of many necessary vitamins and minerals our bodies need.
Today, many people know that it is important to take better care of their bodies, and to use the earth's resources more efficiently. As this understanding spreads, more people may realize that to help the environment and for the human race to survive, more of us will need to become vegetarian.
1.The underlined word "vegetarian" in the first paragraph most probably means " ".
A. a person who eats healthy food
B. a person who eats meat and vegetables
C. a person who only eats meat, fish and seafood
D. a person who only eats vegetables，grains, and fruit
2.It's for a vegetarian to have diabetes than a person who eats meat.
A. more possible B. less possible
C. highly possible D. impossible
3.Which of the statement is TRUE according to the article?
A. Doctors suggest switching to totally vegetarian diets.
B. It takes more water and land to produce a kilo of crops.
C. Farm animals give off methane gas and pollute the environment.
D. Carbon dioxide is more responsible for global warming than methane gas.
4.The underlined word "it" in Paragraph 5 refers to " ".
A. a vegetarian diet B. animal source
C. necessary vitamin D. health reason
5.The main idea of the article is that .
A. our diet is destroying the surroundings
B. raising farm animals affects the environment
C. a vegetarian diet helps to protect the environment
D. more and more people are becoming strict vegetarians
Overweight(超重)is one of the biggest health problems now. Being overweight affects more than how you look. Too much fat can kill you. What’s worse, overweight children turn into overweight adults(成人). If you’re obese now, you probably will grow into an obese adult. But here’s good news. You can fight overweight.
Change your eating habits.
You are what you eat, Kids like snacks. Did you list any healthy snacks? One study of eating habits showed that soft drinks are the first in the snack list. Next, kids choose salty snacks, like chips .What’s more, the list is full of junk food from No.3 to No.11. Finally, No.12, kids picked a healthy snack—fruit, So, think about your snack choice again.
Get outside to exercise
Jim, a player on his school football team, had a weight problem not long time ago. He could never get anyone to play with him. So his father and he started playing football for a few minutes every night. Ten minutes turned into an hour or more. In just a few years, the heavy kid became athletic, fit and healthy.
More TV means more fat
Nearly every American kid watches TV for 2 hours and 56 minutes every day that adds up to 44 days a year of sitting. More TV (or more Internet surfing, or more computer games) means more fat.
Eat an apple a day, walk around the house, play with your family…Do it today, and do it more tomorrow. It will help you a lot.
1.According to the passage, kids put______at the end of the snack list in one study of eating habits.
A. chips B. ice cream C. fruit D. soft drinks
2.What does the underlined word “obese” mean in Chinese?
A. 苗条的 B. 虚胖的 C. 健康的 D.聪明的
3.What can we do to fight overweight according to the passage?
1. Try to get up early.
2. Try to take more exercise.
3. Try not to sit in front of TV or computer for too long.
4. Try to eat more healthy food.
A. 2 3 4 B. 1 2 3 C. 1 3 4 D. 1 2 4
4.The passage mainly talks about _______.
A. one of the biggest health problems, overweight
B. how to play football
C. the healthy food
D. how to fight overweight
